357 Sig

[gunflint]

This one is catching my interest. Does anyone have experience with this gun? Is it reloadable?

[gunshop guy]

Here's a link to a page about it.

http://www.reloadammo.com/357sig.htm

[EAJuggalo]

I have one, shot it today at the steel shoot. It is reloadable but it is expensive to do so, Dillon Carbide dies retail for $130.00. I've got about 800 pieces of brass that Jac714 is going to help me reload once I can get the dies.

[Einthoven's Triangle]

The 357 Sig is reloadable, but your investment in hardware is sort of spendy. The cartridge is a bottle neck design, and hence the carbide version of Dies only are available from Dillon a more then C-Note. Lee, Hornady, RCBS, and Redding make Steel die sets for reloading. Just this week there was eblast from Midway offering a deal on PMC brass and bullets for a decent price. Having shot a Sig 226 in this caliber is has some accuracy with the reloads that I shot.

This one is catching my interest. Does anyone have experience with this gun? Is it reloadable?

[Pinnacle]

I dont think that using carbide dies from anyone gets you out of lubricating cases. As a matter of fact I think that you MUST lube these little critters even if the dies are carbide. I WOULD CHECK ON THIS BEFORE YOU GO AND SPEND $130+ SHIPPING ON DIES THAT YOU COULD BUY FOR A LOT LESS ELSEWHERE.

I could be wrong - but I think that there are other options.

http://www.midwayusa.com/ebrowse.exe/br ... ***8345***

[Seismic Sam]

I have to agree with Pinnacle - I went out to Gunstop to buy a .223 carbide die, and John-Boy had one, and I could easily afford it. I asked him about lubrication, and he said it was still required "a little". A little or a lot makes no difference when it's time to load the cases. You start getting lubricant mixed up with your powder and bullet seating tension, and you're asking for trouble, much less when you shoot the round.

I have had a 9mm carbide die for 25 years, and that is a tapered case straight walled design that cost me $80 back when I was poor, but it was worth the money. It is, however, NOT a reduced neck diameter case WITH a shoulder. If John-Boy says he can't get me a .223 die that doesn't require lubrication, then it probably doesn't exist. Same for .357 Sig.

P.S. I just use Imperial die wax on these cases, size away with a steel die, and then wash the whole bunch with dish soap and dry them in the oven at 250. If you do a couple of hundred cases at a time, it's very efficient. (And NO, 250F won't do diddly squat to change the temper on the cases. My 50 DE cases come out of the chamber at close to 300 degrees and occasionaly hit me in the face, so I know...)

P.P.S.: This, like the 10mm parent case, is one of the calibers where you really HAVE to reload to have fun with it. Ammo selection in stores, PARTICULARLY in Grand Marais, will be DISMAL at best. Plus you got a lot of long evenings up dere in de Nort woods to find someting to do... If it weren't for the fact that I am considering the 357 Sig's evil big brother, the 9 x 25 Dillon, I might look at this cartridge too.

[gunflint]

I certainly wouldn't buy ammo in Grand Marais. In fact, all I buy in town is gas and groceries. This is an interesting round and it looks like I'll file it under "someday." I did read that drop in .40 cal. barrels are available. It might be less expensive to do the majority of your practice with the .40 barrel and use the 357 Sig barrel for carry with maybe a couple of hundred rounds a year down range. I'm all set up for reloading .40s.

[EAJuggalo]

I actually switched calibers in the middle of the steel shoot from 357Sig to .40 on my Glock. Took about a minute and a half, with the Glocks it even uses the same mags across calibers, the only thing that needs to be changed is a G22 barrel instead of a G31.

[Pinnacle]

I just got off of the phone with Dillon

You must lube cases for the 357SIG or you will have a disaster on your hands - SO therefore

You woul dbe $$$$ Ahead to buy anyones dies for this caliber. Spending $130.00 for Dillon Carbide Dies makes little if any sense at all if you still have to lube the cases. Essentially this is a rifle caliber - with a bottlenecked case.

No Lube = STUCK CASES and perhaps ruined dies.

My Advice

Condition all of your cases on a single stage press prior to setting them up for progressivve loading - that way if you do have a problem - and bottlenecked cases are more of a problem than straight walled cases - you will be covered.

I would rather untangle my rock chucker than my 650. Been there - done that - have the gray hair to prove it.

[DeanC]

I find the muzzle flash on the 357 sig to be irritating at best.

If you find the .40 snappy in what I regard as a high pressure load, the 357 is even tougher with that necked down case.

I'd shoot a few hundred rounds through someone else's gun before I made the commitment to this caliber. I know it's not for me.

[Pinnacle]

I concur

When I can throw a 127 gr Factory Winchester Rnager +p+ at 1325 out of my Glock - I find the 357 Sig to be a little like guilding the lilly....Same bullet - about the same velocity.

[selurcspi]

Try a 115gr HP at 1600fps out of a .38 Super, it far surpasses the 357Sig.


357 Sig, that answer to a question that was never asked

[Pinnacle]

Try a 115gr HP at 1600fps out of a .38 Super, it far surpasses the 357Sig.


357 Sig, that answer to a question that was never asked

I completely agree that the Sig Round is an answer to a problem that never existed. There are a lot of those out there - but I suppose that they wanted to make something duplicate the 357 Mag round (125 JHP) that seems to be almost the magical pill (96% Stopper)

Everyone always wants to overcome marksmanship with horsepower - I think that the only way to do that is with a larger frontal area - ala 45 ACP and not the same bullet at a higher velocity. This of course is Just IMHO.

Rarely if ever do you see someone take a 45 COM and persist in their fight.

200 Gr 45
124-127gr 9mm
155gr 40 S&W

Seem to get it done properly and without a whole lot of drama.

[DeanC]

I always figured somebody just wanted to do with the 40 short & weak what wildcatters have been doing with rifle calibers for a bazillion years - take a widely available parent case and neck it down to a smaller caliber and make it go faster.

And yeah - duplicate the 357 mag in an auto pistol.

[Seismic Sam]

Try a 115gr HP at 1600fps out of a .38 Super, it far surpasses the 357Sig.

Seeing as I can't find any reloading data on getting a 115 grain bullet to 1600 FPS in a 9x23 case, I will have to assume you're one of those "Flaming IPSC" shooters who have pushed the 38 Super to major levels and refuses to tell anybody what his load data is. (Nuts!!) As such, the comparison to the 357 Sig isn't really fair, because that round is within SAAMI pressures. (Yes, I'm nit picking here...) The really interesting question is what could you do with a 357 Sig case if you loaded it to THOSE 38 Super pressures? If you started this whole process with 10mm brass instead of 357 Sig brass, you would essentially have a slightly shorter 9x25 Dillon, and perhaps then some if you went to 38 Super IPSC pressures.